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Urban green space plays an important role in the mental and physical health of urbanites, as well\ud as of people working in or visiting urban areas (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2016). But green\ud space can be very diverse in its typology, including for instance urban forests, parks, playgrounds,\ud allotments and urban farming locations. These green space types can also differ greatly in their\ud defining characteristics; for instance, parks can differ in scenic beauty, vegetative composition\ud or openness. Globally, continuing urbanization, as well as climate change, is increasingly putting\ud pressure on the existence of green spaces within urban areas (e.g. Dallimer et al., 2011; Richards\ud & Belcher, 2020). The scarcity of urban green space and the desire to create liveable cities requires\ud in-depth knowledge on how different green space types and characteristics influence mental\ud health, to facilitate well-informed design and planning choices.

There is an increasing awareness that besides green spaces, blue spaces can also positively\ud influence mental as well as physical health (see for example, Völker & Kistemann, 2011; Gascon et\ud al., 2017). Blue spaces are: “outdoor environments – either natural or manmade – that prominently\ud feature water and are accessible to humans either proximally (being in, on or near water) or\ud distally/virtually (being able to see, hear or otherwise sense water)” (Grellier et al., 2017, p. 3).\ud Examples include coasts, lakes, ponds and pond systems, wadis systems, artificial buffer basins\ud and water courses. Together with green spaces they form the green-blue infrastructure. Therefore,\ud a second systematic review focused on effects of blue spaces on mental health.

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The WHO European Centre for Environment and Health has been closely following the research on green and blue spaces because of their importance in addressing human and ecosystem health in urban planning, especially in the context of climate change. Particular attention has been paid to the mental health effects of such spaces. The EKLIPSE Expert Working Group on Biodiversity and Mental Health conducted two systematic reviews on the types and characteristics of green and blue spaces, in relation to a broad set of mental health aspects. The reviews demonstrated the overall positive relationship between green and blue spaces and mental health. This report summarizes the key findings of the systematic reviews, briefly looks at the relevant WHO tools and strategies, and reflects on future needs for research and action. The comparisons of the different green space types and characteristics produced mixed results, indicating that there is no one single space type or characteristic that is a “gold standard” that works best for everyone, everywhere and at any time. For blue spaces, few high-quality papers were available, with little systematic variation in the type of blue space exposure. This prevented the formulation of firm conclusions and recommendations. Finally, the role of access to green and blue spaces, as a refuge for people to relax and socially interact, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is discussed

Working Group (EKLIPSE EWG) was formed to answer the following question: “Which types of urban and suburban blue and green spaces and which characteristics (components) of such spaces have a significant impact on human mental health and wellbeing?”. The answer will be provided by examining the scientific literature. Financial support from the World Health Organization (WHO), adding to that initially provided by EKLIPSE, will allow the EWG to conduct two separate systematic reviews (one for blue spaces and one for green spaces).Previous reviews have been focused on the local amount and availability of, or access to, green (and to a much lesser extent) blue space. The current systematic reviews will be unique in that they focus on the mental health benefits of the type of green (and blue) space and of its distinct characteristics (components).Each systematic reviews will follow six consecutive stages: 1) eligibility criteria for the articles will be formulated, 2) a systematic search strategy will be employed to yield relevant articles, 3) meta-data will be extracted and coded for each eligible study, 4) each study will be critically appraised, 5) a narrative and descriptive synthesis will be performed, and 6) outcomes of the synthesis will be discussed.The main deliverable of the project will be two reports (blue and green), but will also include dissemination via oral presentations and each systematic review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. The outcomes of the systematic reviews will be aimed to inform and provide recommendations to (future) decision makers in several domains, such as health promotion, nature management, spatial policy, urban planning, and design.

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The present paper uses a methodological and theoretical perspective on cognitive and crosscultural psychology as it basis. Our research covers an important area: the role of cognition on the human adaptation to global warming. We draw the general hypothesis that human cognition, mediated by culture, can adapt to changes in the environment. However, we believe that accelerated global climatic changes create cognitive vulnerability because culture cannot provide proper knowledge and cognitive tools. We present some results of our fundamental research on cognitive adaptation to climate change from a cross-environmental and crosscultural perspective. We specifically highlight some preliminary comparative analysis between adults of New Caledonia and Paris on the representation of climate and climate change followed by the human capacity to adapt to this condition. In addition, we provide an intra-cultural comparison on representation of climate, taking into consideration important geographic and climatic differences in France. Preliminary results suggest that culture and environmental experiences have focal impacts on cognitive adaptation. Our findings show that Parisian adults present greater cognitive vulnerability, thus less adaptive cognition. In the light of cross-cultural psychology, we consider that this fact is due, on one hand, to the analytic way of thinking dominated by an urban occidental population and, on the other hand, to the absence of bi-metric representations., Le présent document s'appuie sur une perspective méthodologique et théorique de la psychologie cognitive et interculturelle. Notre recherche couvre un domaine important : le rôle de la cognition dans l'adaptation de l'homme au réchauffement climatique. Nous émettons l'hypothèse générale que la cognition humaine, médiatisée par la culture, peut s'adapter aux changements de l'environnement. Cependant, nous pensons que l'accélération des changements climatiques mondiaux crée une vulnérabilité cognitive parce que la culture ne peut pas fournir les connaissances et les outils cognitifs appropriés. Nous présentons certains résultats de notre recherche fondamentale sur l'adaptation cognitive au changement climatique dans une perspective inter-environnementale et interculturelle. Nous soulignons en particulier une analyse comparative préliminaire entre des adultes de Nouvelle-Calédonie et de Paris sur la représentation du climat et du changement climatique, suivie de la capacité humaine à s'adapter à cette situation. En outre, nous fournissons une comparaison intraculturelle sur la représentation du climat, en tenant compte des différences géographiques et climatiques importantes en France. Les résultats préliminaires suggèrent que la culture et les expériences environnementales ont des impacts focaux sur l'adaptation cognitive. Nos résultats montrent que les adultes parisiens présentent une plus grande vulnérabilité cognitive, et donc une cognition moins adaptative. A la lumière de la psychologie interculturelle, nous considérons que ce fait est dû, d'une part, au mode de pensée analytique dominé par une population occidentale urbaine et, d'autre part, à l'absence de représentations bi-métriques.

Le présent article étudie le rôle de la cognition dans l’adaptation humaine aux changements climatiques et la place que la psychologie cognitive peut jouer dans ce domaine. Nous partons du postulat que la cognition humaine, médiatisée par la culture, joue un rôle central dans les processus d’adaptation à l’environnement climatique et à ses modifications. L’accélération actuelle des changements climatiques globaux met à l’épreuve les modes de traitement des informations climatiques. En effet, la nature imprévisible et complexe des phénomènes climatiques actuels ne permet pas à la culture de fournir les connaissances et les outils cognitifs nécessaires pour traiter ce problème. De ce fait, l’individu peut se retrouver en situation de vulnérabilité cognitive. Prenant en considération les contraintes environnementales et les caractéristiques culturelles, nous présenterons dans un premier temps, quelques résultats d’études préliminaires, menées auprès d’adultes de Nouvelle-Calédonie et de Paris, sur la représentation du climat, des changements climatiques et sur la capacité humaine à s’adapter à ces changements. Dans un second temps, nous fournirons une comparaison intra-culturelle portant sur la représentation du climat dans différentes conditions géographiques et climatiques, en France. Nos résultats suggèrent que la culture, mais aussi l’expérience climatique et environnementale, ont des répercussions sur l’adaptation cognitive. Les adultes parisiens présentent une plus grande vulnérabilité cognitive, donc une adaptation cognitive moins performante. Nous considérons que ces résultats peuvent être expliqués par la pensée analytique dominante chez les populations urbaines occidentales, et l’absence de représentations bi-métriques., This article examines both the role of cognition in human adaptation to climate change and the role that cognitive psychology can play in this field. We start from the assumption that human cognition, mediated by culture, plays a central role in the adaptation to climatic and environmental changes. However, the current acceleration of global climate change perturbs the cognitive treatment of climate information. The character unpredictable and highly complex of climate in addition to the fact that culture does not provide knowledge as well as cognitive tools necessary to understand it might produce cognitive vulnerability. Taking into account the environmental constraints and cultural characteristics, firstly we present some preliminary results of our fundamental research conducted among adults in New Caledonia and Paris on the representation of climate, climate change and the representation of the human capacity to adapt to global climatic changes. Secondly, we will provide a comparison of intra-cultural representation of the climate in different geographical and climatic conditions in France. Our results suggest that both culture and climatic experience affect cognitive adaptation. Parisian adults exhibit the highest cognitive vulnerability, therefore a less adaptive cognition. We believe these results can be explained by the persistence and inadaptability of analytical thinking dominant in western urban populations along with the lack of bi-metric representations.